Monday, December 04, 2006

State regulators and lawmakers eagerly have been counting the take from the
Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, the first slots parlor in the state. It is
abundantly clear already, in this new era of gambling as a primary source of
state revenue, that the state government cares little about the negative
aspects of the new industry - so little that it allowed casinos to open
without establishing a crucial aspect of the state's own gambling law. That
law requires the establishment, by the state government, of a treatment
program for gambling addicts to be funded by part of the state's gambling
take. No such program is in place, even though the law itself requires the
casinos to advertise the state program to its customers. According to the
state Department of Health, a program will be in place six to eight months
from now, but it does not even know if it will operate the program itself or
contract it to a private treatment center. In the meantime, the Mohegan Sun
at Pocono Downs has advertised the number of a private treatment program in
Philadelphia. But, due to a lack of funds, that program often does not have
enough personnel to provide counseling, so callers are greeted by a
recording. Even when the state manages to meet its legal obligations by
establishing a program, that likely will be underfunded, as well. The state
expects to collect $1 billion a year from the casino operations, but has
mandated a minimum contribution for addiction treatment of just $1.5 million
a year, which could rise depending upon the total take at the slots. From 4
percent to 6 percent of all gamblers develop gambling addictions, according
to Gamblers Anonymous. And the likelihood of addiction doubles for people
when a casino opens within 50 miles of their homes. All this should be
alarming to state lawmakers . . . but wait - lawmakers are counting on
addiction to help fuel the state's take. These are the same people, after
all, who passed a bill in the dead of night, without debate and minutes
before the end of the legislative session, which would allow casinos to
serve unlimited free alcohol to patrons.

Gov. Ed Rendell should veto that utterly irresponsible bill, and expedite
the creation of an effective program to treat the addicts that the state is
about to help create.